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Alberta Premium Canadian Rye Whisky
Distiller Score 84
The nose presents with dark rye, apple skins, milk chocolate, and wood spices. The taste profile is enjoyable, but not particularly complex. It is a solid, smooth rye whisky with a nice roundness to take the edge off. Considering the price, you'd do well to pick up a bottle if for nothing else but making yourself a damn fine Manhattan cocktail.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Alberta Springs 10 Year
Distiller Score 85
Richly sweet with fiery pepper over layers of fruit, grain and rye spices. Dusty rye with a slight sourness on the nose becomes richly sweet on the palate with vanilla and crème caramel. Green apples, red grapes, and dried fruits ride waves of hot pepper and luscious caramel. Finishes in dry grain, hints of fresh-cut lumber and mild citrus pith. Deceivingly simple to begin with, then unfolds in many layers.
Reviewed by Davin de Kergommeaux
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Canadian Club Reserve 10 Year
Distiller Score 82
Old-style flinty Canadian rye whisky. Sweet voluptuous toffees and peppery heat mingle with Canadian Club’s signature dark fruitiness. The heat becomes a showdown between ginger and white pepper until it dissolves into the slightly bitter pull of grapefruit pith. Hard, steely flint in the background.
Reviewed by Davin de Kergommeaux
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Centennial 10 Year
Distiller Score 80
This blend of soft, ten-year-old wheat whisky and equally-aged spicy rye seems simple at first. Before long though, subtle citrus notes, hints of sweet flowers and savory spices join cloves, cinnamon, hot ginger and blistering pepper on a creamy butterscotch palate. Sip it again and you’d swear you taste the nuttiness of barley and the creaminess of corn, though neither was used in making this whisky. Finishes with a pleasant, cleansing bitterness and hints of barrel.
Reviewed by Davin de Kergommeaux
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Seagram's VO Gold
Distiller Score 82
The creamy sweetness of corn and the dustiness of rye in a bath of pleasing, peppery spices. The middles is filled with peaches and sweet apple pie, seasoned with hints of baking spices. Finishes quickly and tightly on grapefruit pith and just a hint of oak tannin. An amped up version of the ever-popular VO.
Reviewed by Davin de Kergommeaux
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J.P. Wiser's Triple Barrel Rye
Distiller Score 90
This whisky is an all-you-can-eat rye bread buffet. The all-rye nose shifts to velvety wheat and vanilla icing on the palate with rye spices still in abundance. The oily and creamy texture of the whisky makes it tough to break long enough between sips to enjoy a bracing clean finish where the rye spices get a chance to pop one last time.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Canadian Club 100% Rye
Distiller Score 88
This is a familiar rye with textbook floral notes on the nose. Popping toasted grains swirl with oaky vanilla leading your mouth on a journey of rye spiciness and creamy caramel. Orange citrus mixed with baking spices, such as clove and hot cinnamon, hang around a long time like they’ve been charged by the Energizer Bunny. This whisky is a prodigy for cocktails but just as delicious as a sipper.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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J.P. Wiser's Deluxe
Distiller Score 68
The nose contains aromas of lemon pith, apple skins, and straw. White sugar coats your palate along with more straw and lemon rind. The flavors seem more akin to a Cachaça (Brazilian sugarcane distillate) than a whisky.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Texas Crown Club Ultra Premium
Distiller Score 74
The nose is pretty neutral with some sweet corn and barrel spices found if you really, really try. Sweet caramel hits the tongue and the whiskey feels soft and round on your palate. The finish isn't very long, but what you are left with is gently sweet and ever so slightly bitter.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Canadian Club Chairman's Select 100% Rye
Distiller Score 88
This is a familiar rye with textbook floral notes on the nose. Popping toasted grains swirl with oaky vanilla leading your mouth on a journey of rye spiciness and creamy caramel. Orange citrus mixed with baking spices, such as clove and hot cinnamon, hang around a long time like they’ve been charged by the Energizer Bunny. This whisky is a prodigy for cocktails but just as delicious as a sipper.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips
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Canadian Club Reserve 9 Year
Distiller Score 75
The nose is a bit harsh on your nose, seeming higher than 80 proof. The whisky starts off sweet on your palate. It is not particularly complex; rye and vanilla are here and maybe some coconut, but not much else. The finish is less slick than the standard 1858 bottling tingling the gums and throat. Best to drink as a mixed drink.
Reviewed by Stephanie Moreno
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Stalk & Barrel Red Blend
Distiller Score 89
Still Waters had the same moment as the guy who discovered how good peanut butter and chocolate go together. For the distillery, it’s how good their rye and single malt go together in this blend. The nose is bright with sweet barley working together with blossoming floral rye. On the palate it’s all about those rye spices and flavor symmetry. This stylish blend wraps up with a little oak and a spray of citrus pith.
Reviewed by Blair Phillips